The effect of respondents' just world beliefs and target person's social worth and awareness-of-risk on perceptions of a person with AIDS

The present research examined how individuals' just world beliefs affected their perceptions of a person with AIDS who was depicted as having contracted the HIV virus while either aware or unaware of health risks, and who was defined as either high or low in general social deservingness or worth. Dependent variables included respondents' affective reactions to the person with AIDS, their willingness to allocate resources to him, and their perception of the fairness or the unfairness both of his general plight and that various types of resources be given to him. Results indicated that those who were higher in just world beliefs were more emotionally negative to the other with AIDS, they were less willing to contribute resources to him, and they felt that it was less fair that such resource transfers be required. Similar response patterns were found when the other with AIDS was described as lower in social worth and when he was depicted as having contracted AIDS with full awareness of health risks. Implications of the findings were discussed in terms of how psychological theories of justice might inform health care policy.     

The belief in an unjust world: An egotistic delusion

The main hypothesis of Lerner's just world theory says that people are inclined to think that their physical and social environment is just and that individuals generally get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Contrary to Lerner's assumption, however, it is suggested in the article that in some situations, people may perceive the world as unjust because such a belief has a specific ego-defensive compoment for an individual. It is likely, for instance, that the belief in an unjust world, though in itself a legitimate block to success, may be aggrvated in conditions diagnostic for competence and hence can be used as a special form of self-handicapping strategy. This assumption has been tested in a 2 (low vs. high tendency to engate in self-handicapping behaviors) x by 2 (low vs. high opportunity to use the belief in an unjust world as a self-handicapping strategy) experiment. The results of the study fully supported the author's predictions.     

Blame attributions and rape: Effects of belief in a just world and relationship level

Purpose. The blaming of rape victims can cause secondary victimization. It is of importance to investigate factor that might lead to victim blaming. This study investigated the effect of belief in a just world (BJW), gender of participant, and level of relationship closeness between victim and perpetrator on attributions of both victim and perpetrator blame. Methods. In a between‐subjects experiment, a community sample (N= 166) answered questions of victim blame and perpetrator blame after reading one of four scenarios, each depicting a different level of relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (strangers, acquaintances, dating, or married). Results. Overall, high levels of perpetrator blame and low levels of victim blame were found. Contrary to previous research, the victim of a stranger rape was blamed more than when the perpetrator was known to the victim. Furthermore, participants high on BJW attributed higher levels of victim blame and lower levels of perpetrator blame. Specifically, female participants high on BJW attributed most blame to a victim of stranger rape. Conclusions. In conclusion, BJW was a significant predictor of blame attributions, and relationship type is a variable that merits further research.     

Mediators of the Relation Between Beliefs in a Just World and Emotional Responses to Negative Outcomes

Research shows that strong believers in a just world respond with less negative and more positive emotion to their own negative outcomes than do weak believers. The present study investigated mediators of this relation. We proposed that strong believers in a just world (versus weak believers) would make stronger internal and weaker external attributions for their negative outcomes, leading to reduced perceived unfairness, which, in turn, was expected to lead to less negative and more positive emotion. We assessed the just world beliefs of a sample of undergraduates as well as measuring their cognitive and emotional responses to an exam grade. Mediational analyses showed that our data were consistent with the processes proposed above. Various cognitive and motivational interpretations of the present findings are discussed     

Beliefs in a Just World as a Buffer Against Anger

Anger is the emotion typically accompanying unfairness appraisals. Belief in a just world (BJW) was expected to buffer against angry feelings because subjects high in BJW play down unfairness, justify unfairness as being self-inflicted, and avoid self-focused rumination. Three studies were run to test this hypothesis. A questionnaire study revealed that subjects who strongly endorse the belief in a personally just world are less likely to experience anger and, if they do experience such feelings, are less likely to suppress them. In two experiments, an angry, a happy, or a sad mood was induced. In the anger-evoking condition, subjects high in BJW were less angry and suffered no decrease in self-esteem compared to subjects low in BJW, who reported increased feelings of anger and decreased self-esteem. It is concluded that individuals high in BJW are better able to cope with anger-evoking situations, and that BJW can be seen as a personal resource protecting not only mental but also physical health.     

Blaming the victim: Belief in control or belief in justice?

The attribution of responsibility to victims of bad fate (“blaming the victim”) is discussed under the perspective of Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980) and the Defensive Attribution Hypothesis (Walster, 1966; Shaver, 1970). Whereas Just World Theory suggests that the belief in a just world is the decisive motive of increased attributions of responsibility, the Defensive Attribution Hypothesis assumes that these attributions are motivated by the need to believe in internal locus of control. Research evidence shows both motives as conceptually linked and empirically correlated. The central question is whether belief in a just world and belief in internal control are facets of the same latent variable or empirically distinguishable constructs, and whether they contribute independently to attributions of responsibility and blame to victims of misfortune. Results of a questionnaire study assessing opinions about cancer and cancer victims are reported. There is evidence from factor analyses that the two motives are indeed distinguishable constructs. The correlation patterns and the results of multiple regression analyses show that both motives are meaningfully related to attributions of responsibility. Moreover, it is suggested that belief in a just world is not a homogeneous construct. Belief in immanent justice according to which present misfortune is seen as a consequence of prior faults and sins is differentiated from belief in ultimate justice according to which one can be sure that present misfortune will be compensated in the long run. Whereas belief in immanent justice is the most important predictor for attributions of responsibility, the suggested emotional consequences of such attributions, like belief in invulnerability or confidence in coping, can be predicted by belief in internal control and belief in ultimate justice. Finally, suggestions are made to extend Just World Theory to clarify the function of justice motives in the person's search for meaning in his or her life.     

The World is More Just for Me than Generally: About the Personal Belief in a Just World Scale's Validity

Differences between personal and general belief in a just world were studied in four questionnaire studies and one experiment. Personal just world belief could reliably be differentiated from general just world belief, and subjects endorsed more strongly the personal compared to the general just world belief. Moreover, personal belief in a just world predicted subjective well-being and self-esteem, and this positive impact was independent of general just world belief and favorable self-perceptions. Finally, the more subjects were aware of their own unfairness, the more the personal belief in a just world showed a negative impact on self-esteem. Results give evidence to the just world beliefs' character as world views and as indicators of a personal contract between individual and social world.     

The Effects of Belief in a Just World and Victim's Innocence on Secondary Victimization,Judgements of Justice and Deservingness

Several studies have shown that victims judged to be innocent are more liked and helped by observers than victims judged to be noninnocent. Nevertheless, objectively innocent victims are very often secondarily victimized (blamed, devalued, avoided, or have their suffering minimized), and judged as deserving or as being in a just situation. An impressive amount of literature shows that high believers in a just world victimize the victims more than low believers, judge them as more deserving and think they are in a fairer situation. But the evaluation of the joint impact of the innocence of the victim and of the observers' BJW (belief in a just world) on the observers' reactions to the victim has been left undone. This study aims to throw some light on this subject. An experimental study was conducted using a 2 BJW (high; low) by 2 victim's innocence (innocent; noninnocent) between-subjects design. No interaction effects were found, but the forms of secondary victimization, as well as the judgements of justice and deservingness, were more positively correlated in the condition where the threat to BJW is higher.     

弘扬与培育人的主体性:当代思想政治教育的主题

人的主体性的生成和发展是多种因素综合作用的结果。思想政治教育在人的主体性的生成和发展中起着十分重要的作用。随着我国社会主义市场经济的发展和世界上知识经济的兴起 ,着力弘扬和培育人的主体性 ,已经成为思想政治教育的主题。为此 ,思想政治教育必须进一步更新观念、完善目标、改进方法。     

Belief in a Just World and Commitment to Long-Term Deserved Outcomes

We investigated whether people need to believe in a just world in part because such a belief helps people to work toward long-term goals and to do so in such a way that they are deserved. We assessed participants' long-term goal focus and also their commitment to deserving their outcomes (via a psychopathy scale). In a second session, participants were then exposed to a victim whose situation did or did not contradict a belief in a just world. When the victim's situation contradicted a belief in a just world, the greater the participants' tendency to focus on long-term outcomes, the more they blamed the victim for her misfortune; but this relation only occurred for participants with a strong commitment to deserving their outcomes (i.e., those low in psychopathy). The results are consistent with our argument that, given the function of the belief in a just world proposed in this article, people would have a greater need to preserve the belief (e.g., by blaming victims of injustice) the greater their investment in long-term and deserved outcomes.     

Belief in a Just World,Causal Attributions,and Adjustment to Sexual Violence

What influence do the personal belief in a just world (i.e., the perception that one usually gets what one deserves) and different kinds of causal attributions have on adjustment to sexual violence? Using a sample of N = 62 victims of sexual aggression (mean age = 21.7) it was shown that respondents were better able to adjust to their experience of sexual violence the higher their personal belief in a just world. Moreover, the more respondents attributed their victimization to situational circumstances (external attributions) and the less they attributed their victimization to their character and personality (characterological self-attributions), the less they felt distressed by past victimization. The degree to which participants attributed their victimization to their own concrete behavior (behavioral self-attribution) was not related to their adjustment. Further analyses showed that the influence of the personal belief in a just world was mediated by the three attribution styles. Additionally, the adaptiveness of external attributions was moderated by participants’ just world belief.     

When Will a Victim Be Secondarily Victimized? The Effect of Observer's Belief in a Just World,Victim's Innocence and Persistence of Suffering

According to the belief in a just world (BJW) theory, the most threatening victim for the observers' BJW is the innocent victim whose suffering persists. Consequently the innocent victim whose suffering persists should be more secondarily victimized by high-BJW participants than by low-BJW participants. However, research has never systematically tested this basic prediction of the theory. In these two studies we tried to determine the impact of the observer's BJW, the victim's innocence, and the persistence of the victim's suffering on secondary victimization. In study 1, an interaction between BJW and victim's innocence was found on the attractiveness of the victim. In study 2, an interaction between BJW, victim's innocence, and persistence of suffering was found on the derogation of the victim.     

On the Normativity of Expressing the Belief in a Just World: Empirical Evidence

There is a large body of evidence that the belief in a just world (BJW) affects people’s behaviors and attitudes, either through secondary victimization of innocent victims or the promotion of helping behavior. In this article, we aim to address the normativity of the very expression of BJW. Results of two experimental studies show that the expression of a higher degree of BJW is more socially valued than that of a lower one. We argue that this pattern should not only be seen as deriving from intrapersonal motivation to see the world as a predictable place, but also as a norm which seems to be perceived as having both social utility and desirability. The research reported in this article was supported by grant SFRHD/BD/10816/2002 awarded to Hélder Alves by Fundacao para a Ciência e Tecnologia. We thank Jorge Vala, Melvin Lerner, and Sven Waldzus for their suggestions during this research and to Kees van den Bos, José-Miguel Fernández-Dols and Cícero Pereira for their comments on previous versions of this article.     

浅谈如何发挥国家公务员在思想政治工作中的创新精神

国家公务员是国家的主要服务人员,一言一行都代表着国家的形象。在目前的形势下,发挥国家公务员在思想政治工作中的创新精神是非常必要的,为此,要充分利用网络传播正确思想,坚持与时俱进、开拓进取的精神,创新出国家公务员思想政治工作的新方法、新途径。     

临床法医学鉴定损伤系数的研究及展望

在临床法医鉴定和司法实践中 ,对于不同致伤因子、不同性质、不同部位的边缘性和多元性损伤如何评定 ,对《人体重伤鉴定标准》第 93条、《人体轻伤鉴定标准 (试行 )》第 5 3条如何正确理解和运用 ,本文引入“损伤系数”并就损伤系数的概念、公式来源、应用及在法医鉴定中的意义等进行了综述 ,以期对人体损伤的定量评定这一问题的解决有所推动 ,从而更好地运用国家鉴定标准     

Dismissal policies in the united states and europe: Employment at will versus just cause

This article presents employment termination as a question of social justice. Two main competing models for legal rules governing the dismissal of individual employees are detailed: The U.S. modified Employment at Will approach and the common European Just Cause approach. A method of moral analysis is proposed for assessing the conflicting arguments behind each model. A series of questions are identified that can serve as a research program for arriving at a normative judgment concerning the relative moral merits of the competing models.     

The relationship between shift work, perceived stress, sleep and health in Swiss police officers

Purpose

This study examined how a specific shift system was associated with stress, sleep and health among police officers. Moreover, this study investigated whether gender moderated the association between shift work and stress, sleep and health. Additional analyses were performed to find out how stress and shift work interact in explaining sleep and health.

Methods

The findings are based on a cross-sectional survey. A written questionnaire was sent to all employees of a local police force. 460 police officers (M = 40.67 years, SD = 9.66; 25.2% females) volunteered to take part in the study. 251 subjects were shift workers (54.6%). Police officers filled in a series of validated instruments assessing stress (TICS), perceived health (SF-12, somatic complaints, health care use) and sleep (ISI, PSQI).

Results

Shift work was associated with increased social stress, work discontent and sleep complaints. In turn, shift workers reported decreased use of primary health care. Moreover, stress was associated with increased sleep complaints and lower scores in perceived health. The interplay between stress and shift work did not produce any significant effects.

Conclusions

Workforce health promotion should make attempts to reduce chronic stress, while occupational health physicians should emphasize the diagnosis of undetected sleep disorders.